Vision for 24/7 downtown nears reality at last - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

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The biggest story about downtown Atlanta duringf the past 30 years can be summed up as the near at last, of a vision of a 24/7 city. That visiomn was captured in a 1991 Atlanta Businesxs Chroniclestory "Eplan is confident downtow n will improve" in whicu Leon Eplan, then the city of Atlanta's planninhg director, stated it succinctly: "A thriving metropolitan cente r where tree-lined sidewalks lead streams of pedestrian to lush parks in which entertainers perform almost daily.
Thousandss of new workers, having returned to downtowjn after abandoning the area in the fill the streets each dayand night, secure in the presencew of beefed-up police Friendly street concierges point conventioneers toward their destination. Attractivew light poles bathe wider sidewalke in lightat Today, that's the realitu -- thanks to a confluence of factorsx and actors including Billy Payne and the 1996 the expansion of the Atlanta airport and the hospitalitg industry; the state's investment in , the and the Georgia Bernie Marcus' gift of the ; the investment of lots of corporated money by companies like ; sustainer effort by civic groups such as Central Atlanta Progress; the transformation of GSU by Presidenft Carl Patton; political change at City Hall; falling crime and the metro area's continued sprawpl and choking traffic, which has made downtown increasinglyy attractive to new residents.
Downtown benefited from the work of leaderx such as mayors Maynard Jackson andAndrew Young; Bennettf Brown of ; developer Tom architect and developer John Portman; builder Herma Russell; Robert Strickland of Trust Company and Dan Sweat of Central Atlantaq Progress. Portman, who began working downtown inthe 1960s, continuexd to change the skyline with projects such as the Marriott Marquis Hotel (1985), Inforum (1989), SunTrustg Plaza (1993) and many others. Three decades ago, construction began on downtown'ss first really big, signature office buildinfg -- Center -- which began to rise in Novembetr 1978 and was completedin 1982. The nearby 55 Park Placde followedin 1983.
The mid-1980s through the early 1990s saw more with the expansion of the Georgia Worl dCongress Center, the construction of One Ninetyt One Peachtree Tower (1991) and the Georgiaw Dome (1992), the redevelopment of Underground Atlanta, the completion of the Interstated 75/85 "Downtown Connector," and the connection of MARTA rail to the In 1988 the Democratic National Convention came to But the early 1990s also saw downtown rocked by the closing of Rich'a department store, the departure of big bank headquarters to N.C., and the move of Atlanta's largestt law firms to Midtown.
Then, in the announced it would moveto "Reports of downtown's death premature," read the headlinee of a February 1993 story in Atlanta Business "Downtown isn't dying," the story "it just isn't what it used to be. Downtown has grownn to become manysmaller downtowns, each with a differeng personality." In 1994 Bill Campbell begahn his eight-year run as The turnaround began with the 1996 Olympics, whicb led to the creation of Centennialk Olympic Park and other major changes. Four years in 1992, another of downtown's most transformative agents, President Carl Patton, had arrived at Georgiaw State University.
Patton began transformintg GSU from a commuter school into a research universityt withnew dorms, new classrooms, new cutting-edgw research facilities and a new home for GSU's businessw and law schools. GSU's expansion has revitalized thecentraol city. Since Patton arrived in 1992, GSU'sd enrollment has grown to 1997 saw the demolitionof , which had been builtt in 1972, to make way for . The post-Olympid letdown got a pick-me-up with the 2001 electionb of Mayor Shirley which ushered in a new era of hope for downtownb symbolized by theGeorgia Aquarium's openint in 2005. That era of hope continues today.